A popular gift this past holiday season, E-Bikes and the loose regulations around them make it hard to regulate says Captain Joshua Gilliam, assistant Chief of the Lake St. Louis Police Department. They're asking parents whose children own these bikes to check regulations and see what categories they fall under.
Gilliam tells KMOX the state and local laws that regulate E-Bikes predate the toy's rise, making it difficult to visibly see what category each one fits into and what regulations surround them.
"Impossible," says Gilliam, "I can't look at a vehicle from the outside and know what kind of horsepower it has."
For example, state law says an E-Bike with pedals that goes over 28 mph cannot be ridden by anyone under 16 and must stay off sidewalks, paths and trails. Remove the pedals and its now classified as a moped or electric scooter, requiring a drivers license. Raise the tops speed by three mph, its now classified as an electric motorcycle and must be registered and insured.
Gilliam says he recently saw an E-Bike for sale that qualifies as a motorcycle under these laws.
"If [parents] buy that for their child they don't realize that they're putting their child on technically what is defined by Missouri statute as a motorcycle and then they're putting them out on the roadway."
He says the fourth amendment makes it difficult to have enough cause to stop and check these vehicles.
"Unfortunately a lot of these are gonna go unchecked... until unfortunately there might be a motor vehicle crash or something bad that happens that causes us to have to investigate it."
